Reports Of The Death Of The Chase Exclusives Program Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

About a year ago, I opened a Chase checking account to capitalize on certain incentives offered by the Chase “Exclusives” program: namely, an extra 10 points per transaction on my Chase Freedom card (regardless of the size of the transaction) and a 10% bonus on base points earned each month.  These incentives transformed my Freedom card from an occasionally-used pinch hitter (to capitalize on rotating bonus categories) to a daily workhorse (to maximize my return on all small purchases, as even a $1 pack of gum earns 12 points under the Exclusives program).

Unfortunately, the Exclusives program as I’ve described it is no longer open to new customers.  The “new” Exclusives program has been decimated, as its real value proposition – the fixed 10-point bonus on all purchases – has been axed entirely.  The 10% bonus on points earned has survived in modified form; it’s now an annual rather than a monthly bonus (bad), but it applies to all points earned rather than merely the “base” 1 point per dollar (good).

On Thursday, The Points Guy reported that even pre-existing Exclusives customers “have been noticing some changes to it lately” and would be converted to the new, inferior program.  I actually hadn’t noticed any changes.  In fact, I had just received my statement on March 4^th, and my points were accumulating according to plan.

So I called Chase to figure out whether my Exclusives bonus had been affected, will be affected, or would remain in tact.  I was told, in no uncertain terms, that pre-existing Exclusives customers like me would be completely unaffected by the changes to the Exclusives program for new customers.  In other words, I should continue to receive my coveted 10-point-per-transaction bonus, plus the additional 10% monthly bonus, forever and ever until the end of time.

So what is going on here?  Was the representative I spoke with misinformed?  That’s certainly possible, though she seemed very knowledgeable and confident in her responses.  Does The Points Guy know something that I don’t know?  That’s also possible; he seems to have a very close relationship with Chase.  Are only some pre-existing customers being grandfathered in to the new program?  This option seems unlikely to me.

I’ll keep you posted on my situation.  I plan to keep using my Freedom card for small purchases unless and until I find out that I have been affected by the change to the Exclusives program.  In the meantime, I’ll pester Chase via Twitter and see if I can elicit a response.  After all, what’s more binding than a Tweet?

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